A working card terminal is little help when it cannot reach the payment network. Mastercard's latest European announcement aims to keep some essential purchases moving during that kind of outage.
Under its new offline payment requirements, newly issued Mastercard cards across Europe will support offline payments from February 2027. New and replacement terminals will need to support them by May 2027.
How an offline purchase would work
Mastercard describes chip-and-PIN transactions approved locally using limits stored on the card. A customer's bank sets the limit in advance, up to €200 per transaction. The terminal sends the transaction for clearing once its connection returns.
The announcement focuses on essential purchases at places such as supermarkets, service stations and pharmacies, alongside travel and ticket machines. It follows existing offline implementations in Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia.
This is a staged rollout. The announcement does not mean every existing European card and terminal gains the feature immediately.
Ask your provider about your equipment
For a merchant, the first useful conversation is with the company that supplies the terminal and processes its payments. Give them the model, software version and locations where the devices are used.
Ask which parts of the rollout apply to your business, whether an update is planned and how staff will recognise an offline transaction. Get an explanation of limits, receipts and what happens if a transaction cannot be submitted after service returns.
Before buying replacement equipment, ask for written confirmation that the proposed device meets the relevant requirements. A sales description that says it supports offline use may refer to a different feature or arrangement.
A terminal still needs power
Offline approval addresses a connection problem. Your shop also needs a way to operate the till and terminal during a power interruption. Review battery life, backup power and any dependency on a local network or separate checkout device.
A useful exercise is to walk through a sale with the internet unavailable. Can staff price the item, record the transaction and give the customer a receipt? Can the terminal continue operating for the length of outage your plan assumes?
Keep the exercise within your provider's approved test process. Staff need clear instructions, especially when they are deciding whether to accept a sale under unusual conditions.
Plan the work after the outage
Delayed submission creates a reconciliation job. Your team needs to match offline receipts with the transactions eventually reported by the processor, investigate gaps and avoid recording the same sale twice.
For a business that also sells online, make a separate continuity plan for the website and its payment integration. A store terminal's offline capability does not describe how an online checkout behaves.
Put three questions on the agenda for your next provider review: which equipment will support the rollout, how staff should use it and how the accounts team will reconcile the results. Those answers will determine what the announcement means for your business.
Reporting checked on 13 October 2026.